Thursday, May 29, 2008

Paper.com Continues as One of USA’s Largest Paper Websites

Paper executive, P. Scott Vallely and Internet expert, John Engel, the two co founders, recently announced that Paper.com LLC has been awarded top 500 Internet Retail sites in USA for 2007/08. The website, which exclusively markets paper items, has made the IR500 list every year since it was first published three years ago. With nearly 40,000 items on site, ranging from copy papers to photographic papers to scrapbook papers to handmade and exotic papers they are one of the biggest paper internet marketers. The two founders recently introduced an additional store to the site, which markets thousands of environmentally friendly papers. This new store joins the already popular stores that include Stationery, Office, School, Theme, Scrapbook, Seasonal, and Art Papers. The Paper.com site also has many links to educational Blogs, major paper mills, instruction on how to buy paper, and a conversion chart from grams to domestic weights. Paper.com is a primary online source for quality paper products.

Coated Groundwood Publication Prices Increase …. Again

As reported last month, prices rose $60/ton in April on most publication grades, and they rose
$75/ton for No. 5 40-lb offset rolls. The industry witnessed shipments advanced an impressive 10.3%. Recently, Verso has announced a $50/ton price increases on virtually all of its grades of coated free sheet, light-weight coated /publication and super-calendered (SC) papers. The increases are effective on orders shipping after July 1.
The timing of the increases would allow producers to capture the seasonally-strong late summer/autumn magazine & catalog season. The producers are all attempting to increase prices and recover rising costs.
As a side note, last week, Bloomingdales announced that it is eliminating its mail order catalog. Also, Abitibi-Bowater suggested it could add capacity to this market by converting more newsprint mills to coated paper mills.

Recycling and the paper industry

Recycling certainly is not a new practice in the pulp and paper industry, driven by the recent need to be more sustainable. It has been going on for hundreds of years, and is generally practiced today in certain grade areas because it is economically feasible and attractive to do so, though some limited recycling is driven (or mandated) by environmental legislation in
various states and countries.
Today, very high percentages of waste paper streams are being recycled, especially in the Western world. In 2007, a record 56% of paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling, compared with 33.5% in 1990, according to the American Forest and Paper Association Paper recovery now averages approximately 360 pounds per person in the U.S.,
where the goal is 60% recovery by 2012.
In 2007, recovered fiber accounted for about 37% of the raw product used in U.S. paper mills, and 140 mills used recovered fiber exclusively, according to AF&PA figures. The environmental impact is evident in the fact that every ton of paper that is recovered saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. Paper recycling activities in European countries are similar to those in the U.S., with some percentages being even higher. Although recycling has obvious environmental advantages, there are some drawbacks or developing problems that have to be considered. In regard to sustainability, for example, there is some irony in the fact that as higher percentages of waste papers and board are recovered, the more difficult and costly it becomes to establish and maintain operations based on these streams, and certain environmental tradeoffs also arise.
There also have been energy concerns in regard to some deinking/recycling processes versus corresponding virgin pulping processes. But these issues have not been resolved, and it is still unclear whether certain recycling operations might be less or more energy efficient than their virgin counterparts, and have a bigger or smaller carbon footprint.

AbitibiBowater announces third $60/ton newsprint hike of 2008

From RISI -
AbitibiBowater told customers it plans to increase the price of 30-lb (48.8 gm2) newsprint in North America by $60/tonne in the third quarter of 2008. It is the newsprint giant’s third price hike announcement of the year. If fully implemented it will take the rise in North American newsprint prices over just nine months to $180/ton.
As with AbitiBowater’s first and second quarter $60/ton hikes, this one will also be in $20 monthly increments. AbitibiBowater told customers in a May 16 letter that the company continued to experience serious cost inflation, especially in the areas of power, transportation and fiber, and was not yet generating sustainable results. This increase will bring 30 pound standard newsprint to $680/Mton.

NBSK pulp prices are rising $20/metric ton

By Tom Stundza – Purchasing Magazine
Domtar informed North American customers this week that it will increase prices by $20/metric ton to $900 on northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp, effective June 1. Purchasingdata.com’s monthly survey shows that May prices were stuck at $880 for the fifth consecutive month.
However, industry contacts tell the RISIinfo.com forest products online newsletter they have expected a price increase on NBSK because of a widely held belief that supplies would decline in the wake of maintenance downtime at many mills, as well as the recent idling of Pope & Talbot’s pulp mills. In addition, RISIinfo.com reports to its clients that most NBSK pulp is produced in Canada, where producers are facing margin pressures due to high costs for fiber, energy and a strong Canadian dollar.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Paper Prices forecasted to Continue to Increase

We at Paper.com forecast paper costs will continue advance throughout 2008. There are a few reasons for this, first, many producers have shuttered inefficient equipment and have simply taken capacity out of the market. Also, imported paper into the USA, because of the depressed dollar, has declined. It is true that overall consumption is also down, but not nearly at the same rate as the reduction of supply. Demand for paper has decreased approximately 2% a year while supply has been reduced 6%. Prices are also increasing because of the raising prices of raw material, that is, fiber, energy, labor, chemicals, and freight.
Paper prices could increase in 2008 by as much as 25% for coated papers and 20% for uncoated. This on top of increased postage for those who must mail printed promotions. A few thoughts to save on paper include purchasing paper from a website such as Paper.com – with over 40,000 different papers; purchase in bulk – the site often offers quantity discounts – if you do not see it, ask; adjust the size of your piece – uncommon sizes create waste; ask for value alternatives – a more reasonably priced paper may ‘do the trick’. Sites such as Paper.com have expert paper customer service, - call 888-Papergreat – they are available to assist you.

Paper.com advances Green Store

Paper.com continues to be successful in marketing Environmentally Friendly papers. They offer thousands of products from all the major producers. The extensive line of papers allows for end users to choose 100 percent post consumer; FSC papers; papers made from Carbon neutral credits; items made from alternative power such as wind to generate electricity; Papers made with process chlorine free (PCF) and elemental chlorine free (ECF) pulps; and many that are green certified and contain the green seal. With over 40,000 papers, why go anywhere else, but Paper.com?

Top North American Producers

AF&PI published the following regarding mill uncoated capacity and percent market share.
Mill Capacity (000) Market share
1 Domtar 4,600 35.2%
2 International Paper 3,200 24.4%
3 Boise 1,500 11.5%
4 Georgia Pacific 1,060 8.1%
5 Glatfelter 685 5.2%
6 Wausau Paper 380 2.9%
7 Blue Ridge 320 2.5%
8 Appleton 290 2.2%
9 Finch Pruyn 250 1.9%
10 Neenah 215 1.6%

Forecast for 2008 (000s)
Shipments 11,610
Capacity 12,065
Consumption 11,862

Uncoated Free Sheet Capacity Update

Uncoated Freesheet is defined as papers for three primary product groups – business papers (copy paper) 43% of market, printing and converting (offset 24%, envelope11%, form bond8.5%, tablet 2%), and value added (text and cover 2.5%, carbonless 4.5%, technical 2.3%). USA demand has continued to decline from its peak of 15milion tons in 1999 to an estimated drop of 20% or 3million tons to 12million tons by end of 2008. Current drop is mainly due to electronic information replacing paper. As outlined in an earlier Paper.com new release, capacity has also declined. Nearly 2million tons were slated for curtailment or conversion in 2007 alone, this follows 435,000 tons in 2006.

Go Green: Save Money

The environmental and marketing benefits of “going green” are obvious, but many publishers are starting to realize that going green can have benefits for their budgets too.
Kristine Kern, general manager of Mansueto Ventures, told Folio: that Inc. and Fast Company actually spent less money on paper last fall when they switched to a 100-percent recycled grade made by German paper company Leipa.
When Every Day with Rachael Ray switched to 85-percent recycled paper, the quality and hard costs of production stayed about the same but gave its image a “huge boon” among existing and prospective readers.
Groundwood papers use 2.2 tons less wood than the more expensive freesheet grades, according to Frank Locantore, director of the Magazine Paper Project for Co-Op America.
Bryant Wilson, national accounts manager at paper company Frank Parsons, says “readers will be much more forgiving if the quality is slightly off” if you switch to a lower-grade paper with FSC, SFI or PEFC certifications.
That theory can also apply to basis weights and trim sizes—when Dwell reduced its trim size, it saved about seven percent in paper usage as well as 950 trees per issue, a great statistic to share with readers.

Picking a Paper Alternative

Cheaper paper doesn’t have to mean lower quality, an article by
Joanna Pettas of Folio Magazine
Paper prices have gone up around 20 percent, in some cases more, and additional hikes are likely on the way—30 percent by the end of the year, by some estimates. It’s more important now than ever to consider less expensive grades, but it’s not as simple as picking one off the shelf, since the most popular grades are largely on allocation. Also, compromising too much on quality is risky in a time when the economy is strained and competition is fierce. To mitigate cost, publishers need to take a critical look at their priorities and options and compromise accordingly.
First, Prioritize
Every paper decision comes with a trade-off, whether it’s in cost, quality or availability. Peter Wilson, vice president, paper procurement and supply chain at Quebecor World, suggests running the needs of each stakeholder—reader, advertiser, editorial, production and so on—through a forced ranking process and finding a compromise. “The compromises do not necessarily make them poor decisions,” he says, noting that the essence of a good paper decision is to “minimize cost, maintain or improve revenue, and profit from the difference.”
With quality, Dedra Smith, president of Printmark West, says, “The choice is to sacrifice the amount your readers and advertisers will tolerate.”
One b-to-b publisher says, “Paper quality is about the last thing we think about.” But for Biagio Lubrano, quality control manager at Conde Nast, opacity and brightness are key, which limits grade and basis weight options. To mitigate the lack of choices, Lubrano says the company uses stochastic printing, a method that employs frequency modulation screening instead of small screening to improve color trapping. Most of the company’s magazines are now on 38 lb. to 40 lb. coated Groundwood #5, with the New Yorker on 36 lb.
Assess Your Options
Continued mill closures and paper company consolidations have shortened an already tight list of paper options. NewPage recently discontinued five paper brands following its acquisition of Stora Enso North America. The most popular brands, from any company, are increasingly hard to get.
“If it’s lightweight and cheap, it’s probably on allotment,” says Bryant Wilson, national accounts manager at paper company Frank Parsons America.
Coated Groundwood papers #4 and #5, the common alternatives to more expensive coated freesheet, will see capacity closures of 14 percent for 2007 and 2008, according to forest products information provider RISI. Prices for these grades have gone up $9/cwt in the six months leading up to February and will go up another $3/cwt in April, according to Jeff Bruce, managing director of publishing papers at xpedx, a division of International Paper.
Down from these grades, selling at 10 to 12 percent less than coated Groundwood #5, according to Bruce, are Supercalendered grades—SCA, SCA+, and SCA++—which, luckily, are “much improved” and which “printers are better able to run” in recent years, Bruce says, making them a likely alternative for magazines like US Weekly, New York Times Magazine and Woman’s World, according to Austin MacDonald, account manager at paper merchant Lindenmeyr Central, who says they’ve risen in brightness and surface quality and are now available in lower basis weights.

But even SCA grades are strained, says Ernie Wohlfarth, director of magazine paper at Time Inc. Switching papers right now is tough, he says, because options are limited. It’s important to do research up front and make careful decisions because getting your old paper back is not easy afterwards.
Wohlfarth also suggests sticking to U.S.-manufactured paper and working with an established manufacturer who is not likely to disappear, taking your allotment with it.
What Next?
The fact that a paper may be on allocation is not a reason to ignore it completely. “Plan long term and get the ball rolling,” says Wilson of Frank Parsons. “If you’re on a #3 and you want to go to a #4, express that to someone—your printer, your distributor, the paper mill—so they can facilitate that in the future.”
Reducing trim size is another possibility. “We reduced our width by 5/8 inches—from nine inches to 8-3/8 inches—and thereby saved approximately seven percent on paper usage,” says Fran Fox, production director at Dwell, which launched a redesign in February. “We saved an additional one percent when we switched from an offshore 50.7# text stock to a domestic 50# stock.”
Hi-bulk papers, which maintain the feel of heavier grades at lower basis weights, are another option. But Wilson of Quebecor World is leery of these, saying they tend to reduce the final printed gloss and uniformity of ink. They’ve also been more difficult to source, he says.
Wilson also suggests doing a “thorough scrub of the total cost of ownership” through each possible channel—direct, broker/merchant, and printer.
While companies like Time Inc. and Conde Nast mostly source their own paper, smaller publishers usually rely on printers. For some, this model is disconcerting.
“We believe the printer marks up the price substantially,” says Robert Siel, production director at Sumner Communications. “So far, our strategy has been simply to pressure the printer to provide the best quality product for the lowest price.” His company is looking into buying its own paper but isn’t sure it can beat the printer’s rates.
Also, “If we buy the paper ourselves, someone—probably me—will have to invest a lot of time calculating, purchasing and scheduling the paper supply from the mills to the print facilities,” says Siel. “This means I may need another headcount.”

Printing, writing paper stocks have tumbled

By Tom Stundza – Purchasing Magazine
North American mill inventories of printing and writing paper plunged to 1.8 million net tons at the end of March, a 19.3% drop compared with a year ago, the Pulp and Paper Products Council reports. Also, demand for these papers dropped 1.3% to 6.48 million tons. Also reflecting the weak demand is the fact that mills operated at 94% of capacity in March to make 2.04 million tons, down 6.5% compared with March 2007.
Uncoated free sheet, the basic office white paper stock, remains the weakest North American market for printing and writing papers. A review of the statistics shows that first-quarter demand of uncoated free sheet dropped by almost 4% to 2.88 million net tons, paced by a 10% drop in March shipments.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Paper Recycling Hits Record High

In 2007, an all-time high of 56 percent of the paper consumed in America was recovered for recycling, achieving a significant industry goal five years ahead of schedule. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) also set a new goal of 60 percent recovery by 2012.
"Industry is demonstrating a real commitment to environmental sustainability by continuing to set and achieve aggressive paper recovery goals," said AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman. "Whether at home, school, or work, paper recovery is something we can all do to make a difference."
"While the upward trend in recovery rates is most encouraging, getting to 60 percent is an important challenge for all of us. Everyone has a role to play in our effort to sustain and grow the country's recycling programs and recover more paper," continued Patrick J. Moore, chairman and CEO, Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation. Smurfit-Stone is a longstanding AF&PA member and is one of the world's largest paper recyclers. The company collected more than 7 million tons of recyclable material in 2007.
The 54.3 million tons of paper recovered in 2007 add up to more than 360 pounds for every man, woman, and child in America. Each percentage point is the equivalent of approximately one million additional tons of recovered paper -- enough to fill more than 14,000 railroad cars.
Joining the announcement at the industry's 131st Annual Paper Week conference, Maria Vickers, Deputy Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Solid Waste applauded the paper industry's achievements in increasing paper recycling, noting that "in 2007, the US recycled over 25 million tons more paper than was recycled in 1990. This increase in paper recycling reduced emissions by more than 97 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, comparable to the annual emissions of nearly 18 million cars." She also noted that EPA and AF&PA continue to work together on projects to stimulate paper recycling across the country.
Matthew McKenna, president and CEO of national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful, a partner of AF&PA on projects to promote paper recycling in schools, praised the Association and its members for their efforts. "True environmental progress, like what we celebrate today, comes when industries work together with communities, organizations, and dedicated individuals to make things happen." Paper.com recently created a store on its website that exclusively markets thousands of environmentally friendly papers.
SOURCE: American Forest & Paper Association

SMART Papers Completes Acquisition Of Domtar's Premium FSC-Certified Writing, Text And Cover Brands

We reported on the progress of Smart's acquisition, on April 29th, the purchase was completed-

Hamilton, OH - Premium North American papermaker SMART Papers recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of seven well-known Forest Stewardship Council-certified brands of premium writing, text and cover and cotton stationery brands from Montreal-based Domtar Corporation.
The brands acquired are Feltweave, Nekoosa Linen, Nekoosa 25% Cotton, Nekoosa Bond, Skytone, Solutions and Proterra.
SMART Papers sales, marketing, customer service representatives, manufacturing and warehousing will serve all Domtar premium uncoated customers from SMART Papers' centrally located U.S. headquarters and warehouse in Hamilton, Ohio.
"We believe our customers will strongly benefit from the addition of these well-respected brands to our family of environmentally preferable and recycled uncoated and coated products," said Tim Needham, Chairman of SMART Papers. "These brands perfectly complement our strategy as the market leader for premium environmentally sustainable, best-value, text, writing, cover and cotton writing brands."
"Our newest FSC-branded papers are a good match for our manufacturing technology, our mill capacity, and our North American distribution strategy," added Dan Maheu, President and COO of SMART Papers. "They build on our focus to provide entire FSC-certified product lines to our customers."
Maheu said that SMART Papers will provide first-tier support to all of its existing and new customers. Products will be distributed from the Hamilton manufacturing center and our distribution center in Southern California.
"We planned this acquisition carefully," said Maheu. "We have started manufacturing the brands and anticipate a smooth transition for our new customers."
He added that the acquisition "is a strong complement to our premium coated paper brands—the world standard in triple-cast-coated papers, Kromekote, and our popular Knightkote Matte brand."
Paper.com is the largest source for online papers and markets all the Smart grades including the new Domtar line.
SOURCE: SMART Papers

International Paper Mill Explosion

An explosion occurred at International Paper Company's Vicksburg, MA containerboard mill. The explosion happened when the mill was restarting a recovery boiler. The mill produced 560,000 tons/year of linerboard and will be down for minimum of 2 weeks. This capacity represents 10% of IP's total production and 2% of USA linerboard supply. This product is used for making boxes.